i'm looking to buy a intel mac mini. i'll be doing most of the setup with a regular lcd monitor. after the setup, i'm moving the mini to the tv where there will be no keyboard/mouse. i'm hoping i can let it sit permanently hooked up to my standard rez tv where it will spend the rest of its days.

as i don't have another mac, i plan to use the folder sharing to upload/remove video content from my pc.

my questions are:
- does frontrow allow playback of xvid video? i'm hoping all i need to do is upload avis to my Movies folder, to allow frontrow to see it.
- does the mac mini need any mouse/keyboard based hand holding while its sitting next to the tv? i.e., will i ever need to connect a mouse/keyboard if all i'm going to do is watch videos off the mini? (i realize i would have to hook up a keyboard/mouse for software updates)

- does frontrow allow playback of xvid video? i'm hoping all i need to do is upload avis to my Movies folder, to allow frontrow to see it.

Yes. But you need the DiVX components for quicktime. They are available via the DiVX web site in the labs section since they're currently under development for the Intel Mac mini.

Also, to let your Mac "see" the PC, you'll need to map a network drive to the PC and then create a symolic link so that your movies folder actually is pointing to the mounted hard drive of your PC. FrontRow looks in your movies folder for videos.

furley wrote:

- does the mac mini need any mouse/keyboard based hand holding while its sitting next to the tv? i.e., will i ever need to connect a mouse/keyboard if all i'm going to do is watch videos off the mini? (i realize i would have to hook up a keyboard/mouse for software updates)

Not really, no. If all you plan to do is watch media on it, then the Apple remote is all you need. And, for what it's worth, if you install VNC on the Mac mini, you can your PC to control the Mac mini. Further, if you install SSH on the PC, you can SSH into the Mac mini and do all of your software updates via the command line._________________-Jh